


The Next Generation

by phoenixyfriend



Series: The Kids Are (going to be) Alright [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Young Avengers
Genre: Autistic Character, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Deaf Clint Barton, F/M, M/M, Medical Experimentation, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Present Tense, transgender character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-03-02 23:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2830076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixyfriend/pseuds/phoenixyfriend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're a bunch of sassy little brats that aren't even old enough to vote. They're also overflowing with ridiculous superpowers. They really, really want to be superheroes.</p><p>"Obviously, we're keeping them."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kate Bishop

Clint’s the only one aware of them at first, which is kind of hilarious to just about everyone except Tony and Natasha.

Tony wonders why his sensors never picked up on them.

Natasha wonders why SHIELD never told her.

Clint just stares at them a little funny and informs them, quite clearly, that that’s because the kids are good at hiding, and SHIELD doesn’t _know_.

It never did.

o.o.o.o.o

The first time the Avengers meet a member of their younger counterparts, they’ve just returned from a mission to destroy a HYDRA base, and are all jumpy, paranoid, and exhausted.

Clint stays behind to lock up the quinjet, just a scant minute or two behind, and isn’t there for the initial confrontation. This is, as they later find out, a rather bad thing, because it almost results in something _rather_ unfortunate.

When Tony flicks the light on, it takes a few seconds for his tired brain and body to process the fact that there is indeed a laceration-covered teenager eating Nutella out of the jar at his kitchen table, a one-eyed dog at her feet.

Once it _does_ process, he’s immediately on the defensive, weapons primed and everyone behind him doing the same. Natasha’s scanning the room for more people, and Steve and Thor have their personal weapons out. Bruce is hanging back, but probably on edge if Tony knows him.

“Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my house?”

The girl looks up, as though she only just noticed them, and then deadpans, “Tracksuit Draculas.”

Tony’s suddenly a lot less sure about what’s going on. “Uh-huh. And how’d you get in?”

“Scaled the wall. Sort of.” She waves a hand at them. “It’s complicated.”

“I’d still like a—”

“Katie-Kate!” Clint almost _bounces_ into the room, pulling the girl into a hug (she squawks when he grabs her, but doesn’t pull away). “What’re you doing here?”

“ _Ow!_ I’m hurt, you complete walnut!” The girl still doesn’t pull away, but Clint does, and the Avengers are stuck wondering what just happened.

“Wait… what—?”

“Tracksuit Draculas.” The girl repeats her answer from earlier, and to everybody’s consternation, Clint understands.

“Aw, no, Kate…” Clint digs the heel of one hand into his eye. “You’re… well, you’re obviously not completely okay, but are you okay enough?”

“I’ll live.” The girl shrugs. “But I’m going to stay here ‘til Monday just in case.”

“Aw, little Katie’s learning how to take care of herself!” Clint reaches out, almost like he’s going to pinch her cheeks, though he stops at the look on her face, and spins around at the cough that interrupts them.

“So,” Natasha steps forward, arms crossed. “Explanation, please?”

“This is Kate. She’s perfect.” Clint puts a hand on the girl’s head with what is _probably_ a proud smile. “We’re keeping her.”

“I’m not a dog, Barton. You don’t get to ‘keep’ me.” ‘Kate’ grouses, though she’s smiling at the compliment.

“Uh-huh.” Tony says, eyes flicking between the two of them. “Isn’t she a little… young for you?”

It takes about three seconds, but it’s almost funny to see their disgusted reactions.

“Oh, _hell_ no.” Kate’s fake-gagging, and the dog is starting to stir. “He’s, like, old enough to be my dad! That’s disgusting!”

“Seriously, Stark, that’s just… ew, no.” Clint shudders. “She’s like the little sister I never had.”

“More like you’re the older brother I never wanted.” Kate shoots back, slightly oblivious to the way the Avengers are slowly relaxing at the strange sight before them.

“So she’s your…” Natasha prompts, taking a few steps forward, not so much hesitant as just outright tired.

“Apprentice? Protégé? Something like that?” Clint shrugs and slings an arm around Kate’s shoulders. “If I ever go down, she’s the replacement Hawkeye.”

“How old is she?” Steve asks before shaking his head and rephrasing the question, this time aimed at Kate herself. “How old are you, Miss…?”

“Bishop. Kate Bishop, and I’m seventeen.”

And with that, Tony suddenly places her, pointing accusingly. “You! You were the one that toppled the Christmas tree at the ball I hosted in 2005!”

“I was seven. And besides, you got banned from my dad’s parties when I was thirteen after you set fire to the punch bowl.” Kate snorts, arms crossed.

“You two know each other?” Natasha asks, still a little put out that Clint hadn’t told her about Kate.

“Yeah, that’s Derek Bishop’s daughter.” Tony waves a hand dismissively.

“Rich people circles.” Kate says offhandedly. “Everybody knows everybody when there’s money involved.”

“I’d like to go back to where Barton was trying to convince us that we ought to let a seventeen-year-old onto the team if he’s ever incapacitated.” Steve says, disapproval radiating from his frame.

“Hey, I’m as good a shot as he is!” Kate protests, and nudges Clint, who shrugs.

“Almost. She still can’t make the Robin Hood shot.” He shoots her a mocking grin, and she rolls her eyes. Steve’s fascinated, because being a shot on Hawkeye’s level is impressive, but that doesn’t change the fact that the kid isn’t even old enough to vote.

“Four years,” He says, and feels all eyes on him. “Unless there is an absolute, world-ending emergency where we are physically incapable of winning without Miss Bishop, the next four years are off-limits.”

Kate’s eyebrows are high up on her face, but she doesn’t seem nearly as distraught as Steve expected. “Off-limits from super-heroing at all, or off-limits from working with you guys? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure there are a few people that would be disappointed with me if I stopped.”

Steve’s eyes narrow. “From the Avengers, though I would prefer it if you would stop any and all activity on that front.”

“Not happening.” Kate shrugs, and then yawns. “Hey, Clint?”

“Yeah?”

“I need somewhere to sleep.”

“Eh. I’ll take the couch, kid. But you should have Bruce look you over first.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

o.o.o.o.o

They never do meet whoever it is that comes to pick her up on Monday.

(Well, not until a few months later, at least.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should mention that the “Rich people circles. Everybody knows everybody when there’s money involved.” line was quoted almost word-for-word from "the kids behind the counter" by ataxophilia. It was a very well-worded line and I would feel very guilty if I didn't give credit where credit is due.
> 
> I would also suggest that, if you like this story, you go read that one as well.


	2. Cassie Lang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kate brings a friend to the Tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am INCREDIBLY nervous about posting this due to the fact that I've never written an autistic character before. If I've written anything incorrectly or in a way that is ableist at all, please tell me.

Oddly enough, Pepper is the first to meet another member of the younger team. Granted, no one but Clint (and he keeps it a secret) is aware that there’s a younger team at all; as far as most of them are concerned, Kate’s the only pint-sized Avenger they’ve got.

And occasionally a friend or two she brings to the tower.

o.o.o.o.o

“Oh my god.”

“Calm down!”

Pepper looks up from the couch, where she’s doing some post-workday work while Tony’s not home. The second voice, she recognizes, but the first is unfamiliar, and accompanied by the familiar sound of numerous tiny bits of metal clinking against each other.

“Kate? Is that you?”

Kate’s head pops in through the doorway, and the rest of her follows suit. “Oh, hey, Ms. Potts. Sorry, I thought Clint would be here. I needed to pick up some books I left at his apartment.”

The other voice, much higher, sounds again. “Is that _Pepper Potts?_ ”

“…Sorry, Ms. Potts. Do you mind if…” Kate gestures vaguely at the door, and Pepper shrugs, shifting into a more upright position.

“I have time.”

“You can come in, Cassie!” Kate calls, and a small blonde girl creeps into the room, eyes wide and excited and maybe a little anxious. Pepper’s not sure what she’s so excited about, but there must be something. Probably the Tower.

“So, you’re one of Kate’s friends, then?” Pepper asks, as polite as she ever is, even if it’s a young girl and not a foreign dignitary or possible business partner.

“Er…” The girl, Cassie, glances over at Kate, who shrugs.

“This is Cassie Lang. I’m tutoring her in History, and she looks over my shoulder and corrects me whenever I do math or science homework around her because she’s a complete nerd.” Kate ruffles Cassie’s hair, ignoring the younger girl’s yelp of protest. “She’s thirteen and more than a little excited about being in Stark Tower because of all the science that happens here.”

Cassie blushes and looks at the ground, and Pepper smiles. “So you’re interested in going into engineering?”

“No. I want to work with Pym particles, like my dad.” Cassie mutters, but there’s an embarrassed grin on her face. Her fingers are twisting against each other in strange patterns, and Pepper guesses that it’s a nervous habit of some sort.

“I don’t think I’ve heard of those before, but Tony probably has.” Pepper admits. “Now, if you’re waiting for the Avengers, I don’t think they’ll be in for a few hours. JARVIS can help you find whatever you’re looking for in the meantime, though.”

“Thanks, Ms. Potts!” Kate says cheerfully, waving goodbye. “C’mon, Cassie, we can’t work in the labs, but I can take you past, if you want and JARVIS lets us past.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

o.o.o.o.o

“Pepper, why is there a teenybopper in the library with the mini-Hawkeye?”

Pepper looks up as the words break through the haze of the papers before her. “Ah, they’re still here? Kate came by with a friend of hers, and since they couldn’t find Clint to get some key, I offered to let them stay here and use JARVIS for whatever they had to look up.”

“Uh-huh.” Tony rolls his eyes and flops down on the couch. “So is Kate just allowed to treat the Tower like actual Avengers, now?”

“I don’t’ think she’s going to start living here anytime soon, but she’s rather comfortable with it. I don’t mind.” Pepper says mildly as she turns the page she’s working on.

“Neither to I, but it’s _weird_.” Tony mumbles. “And who is the kid, anyway?”

“I think her name was Cassie Lang. She and Kate are working on some homework, I think.” Pepper shrugs, and then asks the question that’s been bugging her since earlier in the afternoon. “She mentioned that her father works with something called a Pym particle. Do you know what those are?”

“Unstable physics.” Tony shudders. “Definitely not my area of expertise. Pym Particles are mostly theoretical physics, size-changing mass manipulation stuff, and not exactly the kind of thing that’s understood well enough for any kind of widespread use yet. I’ve been looking into the research, and we might see about buying the patent and hiring the scientists working on it when the particles are more reliable, but nothing at the moment. I think I might’ve seen the name Lang on the papers a few times, but it’s been a while since I looked last.”

“Mm-hm.” Pepper turns another page, contemplating. “Would you like to invite the girls to stay for dinner? I’m fairly certain it’s team night, and you know how the others have been feeling about Kate.”

“The entire team’s collective little sister?” Tony snorts. “Yeah, they’ll want to see what she’s up to when she’s not palling around with Barton.”

“I’m sure the interest in speaking with Cassie about her dad’s research and seeing how interested in science she herself is has nothing to do with it.”

“Well it didn’t, but now that you mentioned it…”

o.o.o.o.o

Cassie gets on with Tony and Bruce like a house on fire, and Pepper’s glad for it. Cassie’s stuffed in between Tony and Kate, with Bruce across from her, and the two men have been testing the limits of the girl’s knowledge since dinner began fifteen minutes ago.

Pepper’s not quite sure what to think of the almost worried looks Kate keeps sending Cassie, though. It’s probably just because the girl is so young (and they did make sure that Scott Lang was informed of where his daughter was, even if Kate brushed them off by saying that her curfew was late enough that no one needed to worry), but Pepper can’t help but wonder.

Cassie’s hands are constantly fiddling with her napkin during the meal, folding and unfolding and re-folding it in in the same simple patterns between bites and animated gestures to accompany the science-talk. Her food is partitioned so that nothing’s touching, not at all, and she flinches every time Thor talks a little louder than normal in his discussion with Steve and Sam. At one point during the meal, Pepper notices, the girl just stops talking at all, simply following along to whatever Bruce and Tony are saying with a tentative grin on her face, a grin that starts to slowly, slowly slip.

“Hey, Cassie, I’m taking a quick break to freshen up. Wanna come with?” Kate interrupts the meal and Pepper’s thoughts with ease. Cassie nods vigorously, and she’s out of her chair and chasing after Kate with her bag in hand a second later.

“Something’s wrong.” Pepper frowns, worry gnawing at her. She stands up and edges her way out from between the table and the wall.

“Pepper? That might not—”

“If something is wrong with one of those girls, Clint, I will do my best to help them out, and you should know that.” Pepper strides out of the room, and the door slides closed with a quiet _whoosh_ behind her, cutting off Clint before he can get more than two words out.

The hall is dark, but Pepper knows her way through by heart. Down the hall and around a corner, out of her sight, she hears methodical, metallic clinking noises and muffled talking. She walks more slowly than before, but she has every intent of announcing her presence, even if she isn’t wearing her usual clickity-clackity stiletto heels.

“—won’t care, Cass. And Clint already knows, and you guys get along fine, right?”

There’s a pause, and Pepper starts walking a little faster, hoping to get to the girls before they say anything she shouldn’t hear.

“Bruce and Tony liked talking to you, you know.” Kate starts talking again. “Seriously, they’d probably try to drag you in as an assistant if you weren’t so attached to your dad.”

Pepper finally rounds the corner, and the sight that lays before her is mostly normal, with a single odd variation. Cassie and Kate are sitting on the floor, backs to the wall and across from each other. Kate’s got one knee up by her chin and the other leg extended straight, while Cassie is sitting cross-legged and hunched over.

She also has a small pile of washers and nuts spilled out before her, and by the looks of it, has just begun sorting them out into piles based on… something.

“Excuse me.” Pepper catches their attention, and her heart sinks at the way Cassie looks at her, fearful and disappointed, like some great hope of hers had been dashed. “I was a little worried when you two ran out like that. Is something wrong?”

Cassie’s head turns to Kate with a snap, and Kate, though slower, turns to her as well. They stare at each other for a few moments, and then Cassie brings her hands up in front of her and starts to sign.

Kate responds in turn.

Pepper can’t follow the conversation at all.

She’s confused, but she waits it out, and eventually both girls turn to her, Kate studiously focused, and Cassie rather scared.

“Whatever it is, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Pepper tells them, but both girls shake their heads.

“No, this is… she wants this.” Kate says, glancing at Cassie, who nods without looking at Kate. Her attention has already drifted back down to the washers and nuts, fingers picking through and continuing the earlier task of sorting the tiny metal pieces; to Pepper’s eyes, it looks like a coping method, but it could be anything. Kate keeps talking. “Cassie is… well, Cassie’s autistic. She was trying to hide it during dinner, because she wanted to make a good impression. I told her it wasn’t necessary, but… well, most autistic people, especially autistic kids, tend to get a lot of negative attention due to the way their brains work compared to… I think the term was neurotypical people? Anyway, Cassie wanted to hide it, but she doesn’t like large groups or loud noises and they’re a little too much sometimes, so with everything going on over there, especially Thor shouting like that, she went nonverbal, and I caught a few other signs, so I made up some excuse to get us out here so she could calm down.”

“I… I see.” Pepper makes her way over and slowly sits down next to Kate, legs folded neatly beneath her. Pepper doesn’t know much about autism, but she does know enough about children (due to numerous, numerous cousins and niblings and assorted young relatives) to know that keeping a few feet between herself and Cassie is a good idea. “Would you like to stay out here a little longer, or are you ready to go back to dinner.”

“Cassie?” Kate asks, and then repeats the question a few times to get the younger girl’s attention. “Do you want to go back in?”

Cassie’s eyes widen, and she shakes her head almost violently, and Pepper can almost swear that the girl is getting _bigger_ the way Bruce does when he changes, but the illusion is gone as soon as it came.

“Cass, hey, Cass, you don’t need to go back right away.” Kate reaches out and puts a hand on Cassie’s knee, but the girl pulls away almost immediately. “Not a good time for contact. Gotcha.”

“JARVIS, please tell the others that we’ll be a while.” Pepper says, and the lights dim for half a second to acknowledge her instead of JARVIS speaking out loud. Good. Pepper turns to Cassie and, after hesitating for a few long seconds, casually asks, “Would you like some help with those?”

Cassie shakes her head, not looking up, and Kate puts a finger to her lips. Pepper settles in for a while longer, keeping as quiet as possible.

They go back to the dining room a good ten minutes later.

o.o.o.o.o

Tony listens to the explanation, nods, explains that he doesn’t really care and that some of his best R&D workers are autistic and that the SI health coverage even extends to anything needed on that front, primarily _because_ so many engineers and engineers’ kids are autistic, and then rounds on Kate, mercifully drawing attention away from Cassie, who looks extremely relieved and is huddled up in a little ball in her chair, looking smaller than usual.

Pepper’s pretty sure Tony’s doing this on purpose.

“You! You’ve never mentioned you know ASL!” He accuses Kate, finger pointed dramatically.

Kate looks unimpressed. Good for her.

“Well, I’m good with languages, and between Cassie and Clint, I’ve got at least two close friends that I can and occasionally need to use it with on a regular basis, so, you know, useful in daily life already.” Kate shrugs. “And hey, bonus points, it got my dad mad at me for not taking something _he_ thinks is useful, like Spanish or French. Maybe there are more people speaking _those_ in the world, but I’d prefer being able to hold a conversation with my friends, yeah?”

“Yeah, sounds about right.” Tony sits down and starts talking to Bruce, occasionally asking Cassie questions that she can answer without talking. She’s slow to come out of her shell again, but the science seems to help, and Pepper keeps a close eye on her.

(At the other end of the table, Sam is explaining autism to Steve and Thor, with Natasha, Clint, and Kate occasionally tossing in comments of their own. Pepper eavesdrops, because as much as she does know about the world, autism’s never been part of her purview before.)

A couple minutes in, Cassie grabs Kate’s elbow and signs something at her, lightning-quick.

“Slower, Cass. I’m not _that_ good.” Kate mutters, and then nods her way along as Cassie repeats herself. “Okay, talking about the Hulk, bad idea to get worked up… ah, okay. Yeah, Cassie knows what it’s like to not be allowed to get even the tiniest bit excited.”

Bruce raises an eyebrow, and the rest of the table is silent for a few moments as Kate keeps speaking.

“She had a heart condition when she was younger. Making her pulse go too fast caused complications, so she was stuck in the hospital until the surgery.”

“Oh, hey, high-five, kid.” Tony turns and holds his hand up for Cassie to hit. “I had some heart problems until recently too. It’s all okay now, though.”

Cassie looks at the hand in confusion for a few moments, but she gives Tony the high-five he’s looking for eventually, with a bright grin on her face.

The night goes on fine from there, barring the one tiny little incident where Kate finds out that Cassie might just have a crush at school.

But that boy is a story for another time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Within the context of this universe (since the Ant-Man movie isn't out yet), Cassie was born with the same heart condition as in 616 as well as autism. Scott Lang is a scientist working under Hank Pym, and he brings Cassie to work with him often enough that she's gotten into the storage a few times without him.
> 
> Kate and Cassie know each other because Cassie's mother, in this universe, is a member of high society that occasionally brought Cassie with her when visiting Kate's mom. Kate got drafted into playing with the younger girl then, and for a few years, they didn't see much of each other. About three years prior to the start of the story, they met up again in high school (Cassie having skipped a few grades), and started hanging out again, with Kate basically taking up a big-sister role for the younger girl.
> 
> I really hope I haven't messed up in writing this.


	3. Eli Bradley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve Rogers meets Eli Bradley.

Kate is occasionally late to appointments at the tower, but she always texts Clint or JARVIS the reason if she is. Even when she’s trapped underground by a delayed subway train or something to that effect, she’s rich enough to afford the kind of phone that can get a signal through. And if she doesn’t text them first, she at least responds when _they_ text _her_. Given what she sometimes gets up to when she _isn’t_ in the Tower (Tracksuit Draculas included), they mostly feel like they have the right to feel worried about her when she’s not answering.

Kate promised to come by today to train with Clint (who never stops bragging about how he has his own ‘mini-me’), and as the hours tick by, most of the Avengers that are actually there feel their anxiety mounting. It’s not that Kate can’t take care of herself, usually, but she’s responsible enough to normally call ahead and make sure people know if something’s gone wrong. So if she hasn’t…

Steve can see Clint tapping his phone against his already bouncing knee, biting his lip and not even bothering to try to hide how worried he is. Natasha’s out on a mission, so she can’t help him calm down, while Tony and Bruce have been locked up in the labs for four hours, since an hour before Kate’s expected arrival.

As it stands, Steve and Thor are the only ones there to even try to help Clint out, and all things considered… well, Clint probably doesn’t need any help, and Steve’s not so sure he could give it even if he tried. He doesn’t know how to go about comforting grown men, especially not grown men that are trained for God-knows-what, and he’s almost relieved when Clint’s phone finally starts playing out the ringtone he chose especially for Kate.

(“Problem” by Natalia Kills. It’s an interesting choice, Steve thinks, and he’s not quite sure why Clint snickers almost every time he hears it, but it seems to fit on some level.)

Steve leans forward in anticipation, and he sees Thor do the same to his side. Clint scrambles to answer the phone, immediately putting it on speakerphone.

“Kate, where the hell have you been?” Clint sounds more angry than worried, but Steve’s pretty sure that’s just an act he’s putting on. Probably.

“Shut up, boss.” Kate sounds exhausted and frustrated, and Steve’s suddenly on edge, suddenly not quite willing to just ask if she’s okay and let a simple ‘fine’ suffice. “Shit went down, I got distracted, and it’s… not really over yet. I just finally remembered to call you. Sorry for missing practice.”

“Wha… Kate, what _happened?_ ” Clint is losing his angry edge, now, and he just sounds worried again. “Where _are_ you?”

“Some hospital in the Bronx? I don’t really know.” Kate sighs, and before Clint or anyone else can ask her, she answers the question at the tips of their tongues. “I’m fine, by the way. I’m not hurt or anything, just tired and stressed.”

“That doesn’t answer what happened!” Clint is up and pacing now, and Steve is almost tempted to join him. Or sit him down and give him a massage to calm him down before he explodes. “And who’s hurt?”

“I was hanging out with some of my friends before practice, right? It’s Saturday, so I went up to Eli’s place with a couple of the others after that date I told you about, and we were hanging out in some park and watching over his little cousin and some of her friends. But… one of the balls rolled out into the street, and one of the kids chased it, and this semi came rushing by, going way over the speed limit, and… and the kid’s fine, but Eli pushed her out of the way, and he got hit… and… oh my god…” Kate trails off, her breathing harsh and choppy over the speakerphone, and Steve gets the feeling that she’s probably crying. “We don’t know if he’s going to make it. His grandpa came by and donated some blood, but even once that’s over, they still have to operate, and he’s not stable yet and…”

Steve waits for her to finish (she doesn’t continue at all), his heart already having sunk down past his stomach, and by the looks on Thor and Clint’s faces, they’re no different. Steve doubts anyone other than Clint knows this Eli kid, but he’s clearly pretty important to Kate, and any situation where someone is about to die isn’t a good one.

“Oh, hell…” Clint rubs a hand down his face. “Is anyone else there with you? Do you need me to come down?”

“Everyone else had curfew.” Kate mumbles. “My dad doesn’t care when I come home, so I’m still here with Eli’s grandparents.”

“Do you need me to come up?” Clint asks again, much more gently than before.

“…Yeah, but… can you bring Cap, too?”

Steve raises an eyebrow, because he knows Kate, yeah, but they aren’t _close_ by any means. Clint seems to get it, though, so there’s probably some reason behind it. “Yeah, and I think Thor wants to come too. Text me the address, and we’ll be there in… about an hour? Maybe?”

“Sure.” And with that, the line cuts off.

“Well, looks like we’re taking a trip up to the Bronx.” Clint starts walking towards the door, calling over his shoulder. “C’mon, you two, we’ve got a subway to catch.”

Steve gets up to follow. Behind him, Thor does the same.

o.o.o.o.o

The hospital smells sterile and makes Steve a little uncomfortable, but he lets Clint take point, asking the receptionist for directions, using Steve as a way through (“ _are you really going to turn away Captain America?_ ”) and then leading them from there. When they arrive wherever they’re going, they see Kate, sitting on a rickety plastic chair in the hall, and Clint makes a beeline for her.

“Hey, Katie. How you doin’?” Clint crouches down next to her, looking up into her downturned face. “How’s Eli?”

“Hey, boss. I’m fine. He’s… better. They got him out of surgery about five minutes after you guys started heading over. They’d say he’s stable, but they don’t have enough blood for him to make sure of it. They’re trying to call up some other hospitals to see if they can get more, but his grandpa’s taken care of what he can so far, since they have the same blood type.” Kate curls in on herself a little more, and Steve’s still not sure what’s going on, but he was asked for, so he’s there.

Steve leans against the wall, Thor next to him, and folds his arms up against his chest. He pays attention to Kate and Clint’s quiet conversation, but it isn’t until Kate starts talking about a man called Isaiah Bradley being a test subject for Project Rebirth that he joins the conversation himself.

“I’m sorry, but what?” Steve asks, drawing Kate and Clint’s attention.

“I… I only found out a couple of hours ago, but apparently Eli’s grandpa was one of the test subjects for the super soldier thing before they made you? He was one of the only ones to survive, and there were some nasty side effects, but, um… they’re hoping that the unfinished version of the serum might be enough to make up for the fact that they refuse to take any more blood from Isaiah, even though Eli’s probably going to need more sometime soon. His blood type’s O negative, so they don’t have much on hand anyway, and they can’t use anything else as a substitute, either, so when Isaiah offered…” Kate seems a bit calmer than she did on the phone, but Steve’s not really paying attention, because…

“Test subjects?” His voice is hushed, more than it already was because of the hospital. “They never told me that there were others…”

“You can probably go in and meet them, you know. That’s why I asked you to come. Eli’s… I don’t know if I’d call him a _fan_ , per se, but I think it would mean a lot to his family to meet you, especially now.” Kate bites her lip. “At least, I hope so. I haven’t been allowed into the room since they finished surgery and wheeled him back in, so I didn’t have a chance to tell them I invited you, but it can’t be that bad, right? If they don’t want you here after all, it’s not like you can’t just step outside and… I _hope_ I didn’t mess up by inviting you guys…”

“He can probably get you in, though!” Clint says, ruffling Kate’s hair, and then he stands up and knocks on the door. As Clint argues with the nurse ( _‘dude, are you really gonna turn away Captain America? And Thor? C’mon, even if you don’t know me, you gotta know them. Look, I can show you my Avengers card, and besides, Katie’s been waiting out here to hear some news for_ hours… _’_ ), Steve resigns himself to the fact that he’s being used as a get-in-free card by one of his few friends, not that he really minds in this case; seeing a friend in the hospital is a bit of an important thing, after all.

Kate gets in, and the nurse holds the door open for them for a bit, but Steve just holds his hand up and tells her, “We’ll wait for them to finish up first, ma’am,” so the woman just shrugs and lets the door swing closed again. A couple more minutes pass, and then Kate’s at the window in the door, gesturing for them to come inside. They do.

The room isn’t what Steve expected. Or rather, the people in it aren’t. Eli’s a lot smaller than Steve expected, and though part of that may be that he’s in a hospital bed (and that just tends to make people look smaller and more helpless than they already are, as Steve very well knows), another part is that Steve expected Eli to be Kate’s age, which he clearly isn’t. Steve would estimate him at fourteen, maybe fifteen, a good two or three years younger than Kate. The blankets seem to be bunched up on the bald boy’s chest, but aren’t quite pulled up all the way to his neck.

“Captain. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The old woman that stands to shake his hand has wrinkled skin and a grim expression on her face, and Steve can see that there are laugh lines on her face, old as she is. The skin of her palm is dry and a little leathery, and her grip is strong, even if it pales in comparison to what his could be if he tried.

“Likewise, Ms…?”

“Bradley. _Mrs_. Faith Bradley, Eli’s grandmother. My husband Isaiah is asleep over in the other chair.” Faith doesn’t flinch away from Steve or stare at him in the same awe that he’d been getting from civilians ever since the first time he came out of the Project Rebirth machine, and for that, she immediately gains Steve’s respect.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Bradley. I’m sure Kate told you that she was the one to ask me to come, and if you want me to leave you alone with just family…” A thought occurred to him just then, one that he may not have been entirely correct in playing with, but… “Though, I believe Kate said that Eli had O-negative blood?”

“Yes, he does.” Faith said slowly, cautiously. “I don’t suppose you’re going to say that you’ve got the same?”

“If I didn’t, then the dogtags I’ve had for the past seventy years would be lying, ma’am.” Steve rubs the back of his head. “I never knew about the experiments for Project Rebirth, and I don’t know your family, but if your grandson needs help, and I can offer it, then I’m glad to do so. If you’d rather I not…”

“If the doctors say he needs more blood and that you’re a proper fit, then I’ll gladly sign off on it.” Faith’s not tearing up or showering him with praise, but Steve gets it, mostly. He’s the result of her husband’s suffering (the extent of which he doesn’t know, but which he can ask Tony to look up for him, maybe), but he’s also a national hero, and he’s trying to offer up what little help he can. “Thank you.”

She also just seems like a very… _stately_ woman. Not elegantly severe, and not the cookie-baking type of grandmother, but the silently supportive and put-together and, yeah, maybe the occasional cookie, too. She’d have had Steve’s respect nonetheless, but her attitude was certainly something he appreciated.

“I’m happy to help in any way possible, ma’am.”

“We appreciate it.”

o.o.o.o.o

Steve _does_ end up donating some blood to Eli, and he talks to Isaiah, sort of, because the man is physically mute, but they manage to have a conversation anyway. He’s sitting outside the room when Eli wakes up.

(Visiting hours are long over, but no one wants to get rid of Captain America or Thor. Kate just bribes the orderlies to let her stay, with Clint cheerily hanging out with one of them whenever someone tries to come in and get them all to leave.)

Steve stays outside, quietly talking to Thor (they’re watching cat videos on YouTube, because there’s little else to do but worry, and neither of them wants to leave), while Clint plays with knife and a piece of wood, carving… something. Kate’s still inside, though; this is _her_ friend, a close friend, and if his grandparents are okay with it, she can stay as long as she’d like.

So Steve stays outside in the hall, because he really doesn’t know anyone in that room well enough to justify staying there, and waits for a sign that he should either come in or get ready to go back to the Tower. He does get his sign, when Kate opens the door and sticks her head out, grinning.

“Eli woke up a few minutes ago, and I mentioned that you’re here, and… he kind of wants to meet you. Both of you,” she says as she nods at Thor, “but mostly Cap.”

“What am I, chopped liver?”

“No, Boss. Eli actually _likes_ chopped liver; his opinion on you isn’t that positive.” Kate grins as Clint rolls his eyes at the (admittedly rather childish) insult. “But you can come in too. Just… all of you remember to be quiet, alright?”

“But of course, Miss Kate.” Thor says gravely, voice already lower than usual. Kate had told him off for calling her ‘Lady Kate’ the first time he’d done it, but was willing to put up with ‘Miss’ instead.

“I make no promises, but I’ll try.” Clint shrugs and gestures at the door while gesturing at the door. “Senior citizens first.”

“Thor’s older than me, you know.” Steve says, but it’s mostly in jest.

Eli doesn’t look quite as small, now that he’s awake, and Steve’s grateful for that, for more than one reason. He’s not sitting up yet, but he looks alert enough, and the look he trains on Steve, like most of his family, is neither awestruck nor accusing.

“Captain Rogers?” he asks, and his voice isn’t very deep yet, but Steve can here some cracks that hint at what it might be in the future; it’s still higher than he expected, but it’s not as surprising as Eli’s age had been. Besides, the kid is already calling him Captain Rogers instead of Captain America, so the respect is there, but it’s not the out-of-control, propaganda fueled type that Steve’s used to, which is…

This entire family is refreshingly normal, as far as their interactions with Steve go. He likes them.

“That’s me. And I’ve been told that you go by Eli?” He turns the statement into a question, because there are a lot of things he’s learned or already knew about people, and that includes the fact that sometimes it’s better to ask for a name than to go off what he’s been told by others. “I heard about what you did for that kid. It was very brave of you.”

Steve’s aware of the fact that he sounds kind of stilted and silly and maybe even insincere, but he’s never really been _good_ with words, not the way Bucky could charm his way with women, or the way Natasha and Tony can talk circles around anyone, or the way Thor sounds like he just stepped out of a Shakespearean play, or even the way Kate can talk her way out of anything. Still, this teenager risked his life, and nearly lost it, to save a little kid that made a bad mistake, and Steve needs to commend that, especially since Eli doesn’t look like he’s much healthier than Steve was at that age. Eli seems to get what Steve’s trying to say, anyway, judging by the painfully raised eyebrow and the furtive glance at Kate. The rest of the people in the room (barring Thor) seem to be a little amused by how awkward Steve is being, but that was fine. All fine.

“Yeah, I’m Eli.” He looks like he wants to sit up, but that would be a terrible idea with his injuries. “They said you donated some blood after the hospital banned grandpa from giving me any more.”

“I did.” Steve doesn’t try to justify it ( _I apparently owe your family a debt; you’re a friend of Kate’s; I’d feel guilty if I let a kid like you die_ ), just tells Eli the part of the truth that he deserves to hear. “You’re a fine young man, and you don’t deserve to die. The world needs more men like you.”

Eli snorts, but there’s a smile on his face, and Steve feels himself relaxing. “Not a man yet. I’m still just fifteen, you know, and I’ve been told that’s not really enough to be considered a man.”

“I’d say I’m sorry, but I have no reason to be, so…” Kate trails off and shrugs, and Steve neither knows the story, nor, he suspects, does he _want_ to know. Teens’ love lives aren’t something he wants to be dabbling in.

“In any case, you saved a life by risking your own, and that’s something to be commended, so…” this time, Steve is the one trailing off, not quite sure what to say anymore.

“I get it. Thank you.” Eli apparently doesn’t see the need for dancing around the subject, as has been apparent pretty much from the beginning of their conversation. “You didn’t have to do it.”

“I was here, and I could help. I wanted to do it, and that was enough.” Steve wishes he could say that he didn’t understand why Eli was saying that, but… well, Steve was a hospital patient enough as a kid that he knew exactly what was going through Eli’s head now. “It raised your chances of survival, from what I heard. Isn’t that reason enough?”

“…Guess I just never thought I’d be seeing Captain America doing something for little old me.” Eli says, laughing tiredly, though that stops quickly enough, punctuated by a pained groan. “Given when you grew up, I didn’t even think you’d approve of me. Most people still don’t, even if they’ve grown up in this time.”

Steve’s brow furrows, because even if it’s been almost seventy years, he’s pretty sure that the museums and textbooks still cover all the Howling Commandos. Even when they were first formed, or perhaps especially so, they’d been known wide and far for the kinds of people they pulled in, especially Jim Morita and Gabe Jones. Such a mixed group was almost unheard of at the time, and Steve has _seen_ pictures in the museum that showed his hand-picked team. Steve can’t think of what else has changed since his time that Eli might have been worried about him not approving of. Before he can ask, though, Kate coughs loudly, the kind of cough that draws attention, not the kind of cough that signals a cold.

“Um, Eli? No one, ah, nobody told him.” She bites her lip. “I know you don’t like having people telling someone for you, and I can’t speak for your grandparents, but…”

“I felt you’d prefer to tell him yourself, if at all.” Faith says, quickly summing up what Kate said. Steve’s still kind of confused, but he’s trying not to make any assumptions.

Eli raises an eyebrow. “You’re telling me that nobody mentioned it while the blood was being transfused or anything? We’re in a hospital; that’s one of the few places where talking about it is kind of, you know, _necessary_ , whether I like it or not.”

“It just didn’t come up,” Kate says helplessly, shrugging. “But now if you don’t want to tell them, you don’t have to, right?”

Steve shares a glance with Thor, but the god doesn’t seem to have any more of an idea of what’s going on than Steve does.

Eli gives Steve a long, measured stare. Without looking away, he speaks again. “Kate, what was that phrase you used to describe the Avengers’ reactions to all the stuff you brought up when testing them?”

“You mean ‘zero fucks given?’” Kate grins, ignoring the disapproving look that Faith sends her. “I checked for everything that might come up from any of us, Eli, and more, just in case. And to cover my tracks.”

Steve’s mind starts going through all the conversations that Kate’s had with him and the other Avengers, his heart sinking as he realizes that Kate has honestly become more of a fixture in their lives than he’d thought. There are a lot of topics he remembers discussing, and probably more that he doesn’t remember, or just—

“Right, then.” Eli says, jerking Steve out of his thoughts. “So. Coming out to Captain America. Because that’s my life now. This should be fun.”

Steve suddenly has a much smaller pool of conversations to work with, not that he needs to keep trying to figure it out much longer.

“Coming out?” Thor’s grasp on slang is weaker than Steve’s, but he’s working on it; they both are.

“I’ll explain later.” Kate promises, and gestures at Eli to continue.

“Right. Um… So, I’m trans. If you don’t know what that means, then, uh… well, I was born with a girl body, but I’ve always felt like a boy, and that’s what I identify as.” Eli shifts a bit, and then pulls down the blankets (wincing, and Steve wants to tell him off for moving while he’s still injured, but now is _not_ the time), and Steve can now see that it isn’t so much that the blankets were bunched up as it is that they were resting on top of a pair of breasts, covered only by the exceedingly thin hospital gown.

Small ones, but breasts all the same, and Steve looks away from them and back up at Eli’s face as quickly as possible, because the kid is fifteen. Eli obligingly moves the blanket back up to where it was before.

“You were worried that I wouldn’t approve of the fact that you’re… trans?” Steve’s not sure if he can use the shortened form (political correctness is hell to navigate, but if it makes someone feel more comfortable with themselves, makes even a single person put off biting the bullet by one more day, it’s all worth it), but no one so much as blinks an eye at the usage, so he goes ahead and assumes it’s okay. “While it was uncommon in my day, I _did_ live in the part of Brooklyn that had the largest population of, ah… LGBT people, I think? I’ve also been living in what you consider modern day for several years now. Even if I’d had more… conservative views when I first woke up, I’ve had time to learn better. A person’s worth isn’t decided on what they identify as or whom they find attractive. If you decided that you’re a man, then a man you are.” Steve pauses, reminding himself of Eli’s age. “Well… a boy.”

Eli stares at him in what may be shock, and then laughs. It’s not a fake laugh, nor is it a very raucous one. It’s tired and relieved and maybe just a bit happy.

“Oh, if only Fox News could hear that. The great Captain America, Steve Rogers, a supporter of queer rights.” Eli snorts, and Steve can see the rest of the room grinning (and a corner of his mind, the one that isn’t focused on the room at large, wonders just what Thor thinks about the situation, but the god is standing back, not trying to press himself into the conversation). “Mind doing that whole spiel on live TV? Might make my life a bit easier.”

“You think so?” Steve rubs the back of his neck, suddenly nervous. He’s _good_ at publicity when he has time to prepare, but that doesn’t mean he likes it, and it’s not good for his mentality.

“I’m a black trans kid living in the Bronx. Trust me, I know how much help it would be to a lot of people if someone at your level of fame and nation-wide popularity mentioned your support of the queer community somewhere and some time they couldn’t just sweep it under the rug.” Eli shakes his head. “Even if you’re not queer yourself, it’s—”

“Sorry,” Steve cuts him off, and for a second the room grows cold, just enough for him to feel uncomfortable before he keeps going. “But that last bit. You’re, um… I suppose I understand why you’d think that, but it’s not true.”

No one really seems to pick up on it for a second or two, and then Kate lets out a small, quiet “oh, _right_ …” and Clint starts giggling at Steve’s awkwardness. Eli realizes what he means a second or two after he says it.

“Wait, you’re not…” He trails off, and Steve doesn’t want to think about what that last word would be (because he used to think the same things, back when he was younger, what it would be like to be _normal_ , to not end up getting beat on by all the neighborhood bullies whenever they thought he was too _strange_ for the rest of them, even when he hid his sexuality), he just answers the question.

“I’m not transgender, or anything on that spectrum, but I _am_ bisexual. I’m not surprised that you don’t know. Back then, most people did their best to hide that sort of thing, and since I was attracted to women, I didn’t have to work too hard to hide my attraction to anyone else.” Steve shrugs. “Since waking up two years ago, it just never came up. I was too busy with everything else, and what little publicity I did was for the Avengers and had to do with our hero-ing business, not our personal lives.”

“Except Tony’s.” Clint adds.

“…Except Stark’s, yes.” Steve allows, because Tony _does_ get questions about his personal life, and he _does_ answer, but he’s been playing the media for decades, and he’s been in the public eye longer than any of the others (actively, anyway; Thor and Steve came earlier, but they didn’t have as much experience with the standard, modern Earth media).

Eli stares at Steve for a few seconds, quiet. “It would mean a lot for a lot of kids if you said all that publicly. Having Captain America endorse queer rights would be a really big deal, and could even save lives, knowing how bad so many people have it.”

“Is it that bad?”

“It really, really is.”

“Then I guess I’ll talk to Stark about setting up a press conference.”

o.o.o.o.o

Just a few hours later, Steve does exactly that. After two full weeks of going over all the queer theory with Eli, who has little else to do as he recovered in the hospital, super-serum blood working overtime to fix him up, Steve walks up to a podium, comes out of the closet (not that he’s really been hiding in it at any point in the past two years), and delivers an hour-long speech on LGBTQ+ rights.

The uproar is _glorious_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The headcanon of Eli being trans came from Norickayer and zir fic "The Invasion." In that story, Eli is trans for plot related reasons. In my story, Eli is trans because I felt that representation was needed, and that it would be a wonderful way to convince Steve that he was needed for modern social justice.
> 
> MCU!Steve Roger's blood type is canonically O, according a picture of a his dog tags that a friend found for me. It was a nice coincidence.
> 
> I'm a little disappointed with how little Eli I included in this chapter, but the story is built less on "this is how they interact" and more on "this is how they meet," and Kate is my... portal, of sorts. She's how everyone meets everyone else, and she's always there to watch the meetings happen (mostly because she is, as far as this fic is concerned, a Mama Bear to all but two members of the team).


	4. Billy Kaplan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which brothers are a topic of discussion and angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please keep in mind that Billy's attitude here is not necessarily indicative of his usual attitude, as he is dealing with events that put a lot of stress on him for a variety of reasons.

For all that he nodded and smiled and played along while at the hospital, Thor didn’t quite understand what it was that was going on. The term ‘trans’ isn’t one that seems to exist in his vocabulary, All-Speak or no; Jane and Selvig theorize that most of the time something like this happens, it’s because there either isn’t an exact translation to Old Norse, because it’s some kind of slang or acronym, or because the concept or term itself is one that he’s unfamiliar with.

Thor isn’t quite sure which one applies here, because the idea seems a bit strange to him once he asks JARVIS to explain it to him later, and it’s short for a different word (transgender, JARVIS informs him) that he also can’t figure out. Mostly, though, it’s not something anyone ever bothered to ascribe a name to in Asgard. It wasn’t even something Thor was completely unfamiliar with as far as knowing someone with tendencies of that sort went. Loki had occasionally used magic to turn into a woman, but Thor had never caught him doing so for a reason that wasn’t duplicitous after adulthood.

When Thor learns the meaning of the term ‘in the closet,’ he thinks he may finally understand why. No one ever bothered to say anything to Loki’s face, not to a prince of Asgard, but there had been whispers and rumors when they were children, little things that Loki had no doubt overheard while hidden from sight, or that he’d heard from Thor or Sif or the Warriors Three when he drafted them into his own little espionage missions. If those secretive criticisms made their way to Loki’s ear often enough… well, Loki had always been desperate to please until his fall from the Bifrost. He had, in all likelihood, hid his nature once he learned of how people looked down on him for it.

Still, as much as the concept of gender identity confuses Thor (but he learns, he does, he _tries_ ), the ideas behind sexuality are much easier to grasp. Whom one chooses to lie with is not a decision that most of Asgard judges in that sense. More common is the judgment of one’s species or social class, as with Thor’s love of Jane. Marriage is a different matter, if only because Asgardians rarely reproduce, and a family as… _prolific_ as Volstagg’s is a rare one indeed. To marry without the intent to reproduce is not anathema, quite, but it is looked down upon. A good compromise, of course, is adoption, but even then, gender roles (another term Thor has only recently learned of) are so heavily ingrained in Asgardian society that some still disapprove, especially since children are so rare that orphans were even less common.

As far as most of Asgard is concerned, a man is to marry a woman, and both are required to procreate and raise a child.

(Usually. Both a man and a woman are _usually_ required to procreate and raise a child. No one but Loki and Hela herself know where the latter had come from, and neither one is telling. The most common theory is that Loki created her from magic, but there is no confirmation to be had.)

But Midgard is different. Midgard doesn’t have a carefully-regulated population, but is instead overflowing with people. Midgard doesn’t need to worry about more births, and while the number of people who would like to adopt greatly outnumber the amount of children that have need of being adopted, both numbers are great enough that it is still not a situation that should cause problems.

And yet Midgard insists on vilifying those who would choose to lie with their own gender, due to religion and prejudice and little else. Midgard insists on trying to make the good Captain lie and say that he is not what he is, or to stay silent on the matter. Midgard would rather their children die than see them love or be what they choose.

Midgard is strange.

o.o.o.o.o

“Kate’s bringing people.”

Thor looks up from the not-so-primitive tablet that Tony had loaned him for his research on Midgardian culture, and sees Clint stride into the room waving his phone around.

“How many?” Tony asks immediately, as though that would change anything.

“Okay, fine, Kate’s bringing _a_ person. One of her friends. Younger than her, as usual.” Clint rolls his eyes. “They’ll be here in half an hour.”

“Any word on why we only ever seem to meet these kids one at a time?” Tony questions, already absentmindedly entering another meal for lunch onto a hologram floating to his left. “Like, we don’t even seem to hear that they exist before Kate just randomly shows up with them.”

“Because these are Kate’s friends? She doesn’t live here, and she spends more time at my place or their places than she does here? And most of them are young enough to be a little leery of going to a private residence owned and inhabited solely by adults?” Clint shrugs. “Like, yeah, most of these kids aren’t old enough to drive, and that kind of means they’re not old enough to be meeting up with strange adults for a while. That’s a pretty good reason, I think.”

Tony makes a noise of faint disapproval. “Fair enough. Just wish I actually knew something about them before mini-you brought them over.”

“You can deal with it, Stark. You’ve met most of Kate’s friends by now. I think. Well, most of the ones I know about, anyway.” Clint pauses in spinning his phone and turns to face Thor abruptly. “Fair warning, though, this kid knows, like, a shitton of Norse mythology, so, you know, don’t be surprised. I don’t know if he’s going to ask you about how much of it is true or anything, but… yeah, fair warning and all that.”

Thor knows the myths that Midgard has about his kind, and while he isn’t a particularly large fan of any of those stories, and for good reason, he doesn’t mind explaining the differences to someone that is genuinely interested. “I appreciate your consideration.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. They’ll be here in, like, fifteen minutes. Probably. I think? That’s what Kate said.” Clint stares at his phone blankly for a few seconds and then flops down on the couch and drapes an arm across his face. “I need some goddamn sleep. I’m rambling and confused. I think that’s something that sleep fixes. Right? Right. I’m gonna take a nap.”

Clint’s nap is cut short when, precisely twelve minutes and thirty-eight seconds later (as Tony keeps track, for reasons that Thor doesn’t quite understand but generally attributes to some form of mischievous amusement), the elevator lets out a small ‘ding’ and slides open to reveal Kate and her friend.

Thor’s first thought is that Midgardian youths are curiously small, or that the child is perhaps much younger than Kate is, given the difference in both height and confidence. Kate strides into the room as though she owns the place (she doesn’t, but it occasionally feels as though she might as well live there), while her friend follows her almost timidly, hands shoved into the pockets of a thick jacket that Thor has heard the others refer to as a ‘hoodie.’

“’Sup, boss man?” Kate drops onto the seat next to Clint and pokes his shoulder.

“Futz off,” Clint grumbles, swatting her arm away. “I’m try’na sleep, Katie-Kate.”

“Yeesh, fine.” Kate rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t get up, instead patting the seat next to her. “C’mon Billy, take a seat.”

The boy (not even a young man yet, not by Midgard’s standards) shrugs silently and does as asked, and Thor can’t help but notice the dark circles that ring his eyes. Thor heard once that Midgardian schools frequently drive students to ill health with their rigor or unnecessary work, but to start so _young…_

“Isn’t that supposed to be my line?” Tony asks, pulling Thor’s thoughts back to whatever conversation is at hand. He notices that Clint has gotten off the couch that Kate’s on and moved to the one in the back of the room. “Since it’s my place?”

“You don’t mind and we both know it.” Kate’s bravado is hard to see through, but she’s nervous about something. Tony just shrugs and leaves the room, giving some excuse about working on another suit.

Thor’s eyes are drawn back to the boy at her side, and he frowns. Mjolnir is interested in the boy, though Thor can’t yet imagine why.

“You are very quiet.” Thor says after several seconds, startling the boy. He looks spooked, thin and soft and not yet very tall, but with hints of what he may yet grow into and a glint of intelligence in his eyes.

He reminds Thor remarkably of Loki, in their younger days.

“…Sorry. Didn’t expect Kate to bring me here. I’d normally be more excited, but there’s some family stuff going on.” He seems unsure of how to continue, which is better than the blank, slightly judging silence of before. Thor’s had too much experience with blank, judging silences.

“Sounds like Tommy got in trouble again.” Clint comments, a strained grin on his face. Thor’s getting better at reading the people of Midgard, his friends in particular, and he knows what that grin means by now. Whoever the youth called ‘Tommy’ is, he has clearly been in enough trouble, and recently, to be a cause for concern, much as Clint may try to inject some levity into the atmosphere.

“You could say that.” Billy says, and his eyes drop down to the floor.

Thor doesn’t quite know if he should offer Billy some space or some distraction, but the rapidly cooling feeling in the room doesn’t leave him many options otherwise, so he chooses the latter and hopes he’s done the right thing.

“Clint has informed me that you are knowledgeable regarding stories that the people of Midgard have of my people.” Thor isn’t quite sure how to continue, but the youth nods slowly, a look of embarrassment on his face, which is better than the studied blankness of before. Kate doesn’t try to stop him and Clint has attempted to return to his earlier sleep, so he continues. “Are there any that you wish to know the truth of?”

There’s a fleeting look of suspicion on the boy’s face (of course there is, _anyone_ could tell that Thor is only trying to lighten the mood), but he plays along. “A few, yeah. Though I think I’d need to know the background information first, though, right? Like, how the family trees are different and stuff. All the news I’ve seen of the Chitauri thing a couple years ago said that Loki was your brother, which doesn’t match up with the myths, so I figure there must be more that the stories got wrong.”

“Aye.” Thor nods. “There are a number of differences, but Loki’s place in the family was one of the large ones.”

Billy quirks a brow at Thor’s word choice, but doesn’t ask. He doesn’t ask if Loki is dead or disowned or has rejected his heritage (for all three are true), but holds his tongue on the subject.

“What about the kids? There were a bunch of kids that Loki had in the myths, even if where they came from was a bit _weird_ sometimes, and even if they had different origins or whatever, there’s probably still some… reflection? Counterpart? An inspiration, at the least.”

Thor watches Billy’s face as the boy’s face slowly lightens, the distraction doing its work. Thor isn’t sure whether he’s _personally_ going to enjoy talking about the mythology Midgard has about his family, but he’s willing to spend a few tedious hours on it if it means keeping a child from looking like the world is slowly trying to drown him.

Thor doesn’t know where the paper and pens are (he’d be half convinced that there isn’t a speck of either in the tower had he not seen several of Tony’s employees carrying contracts and such up to be signed by Tony and Pepper), but he does know how to use the computers here, mostly. He can ask JARVIS, at least.

“JARVIS? If you could provide a way for me to show a genealogy to Billy?” The name feels strange on his tongue, too familiar, but the boy’s mouth quirks into an approximation of a grin and there’s an embarrassed dusting of pink on his cheeks, so Thor doesn’t decide to stop using it. Just like he says Tony instead of Anthony, Steve instead of Steven, Clint instead of Clinton, Pepper instead of Virginia, and Kate instead of Katherine, he can learn to say Billy instead of William.

(If it weren’t for the fact that the All-Speak gave him a twinge of feeling that insisted the names weren’t formal, he wouldn’t have known that any of these names weren’t their given ones, as they rarely chose to use the names they’d been born with. As a prince, Thor’s been taught to avoid such informality with all but his closest friends and his worst enemies, but Midgard is less tied to such traditions.)

Thor begins outlining his family, ignoring the pain in his own heart whenever he speaks of Frigga and Loki. The lines trailing downwards from Loki’s name don’t seem to surprise Billy, though he does ask a few qualifying questions; Thor knows of a Jotun witch that goes by the name of Angrboda, but doubts the ancient seiðkonur has ever so much as spoken to Loki. Hela’s birth and the creation of Loki’s ‘pets’ are as much a mystery to Thor as they are to Billy, but Thor is sure to clarify that Fenrir, Sleipnir, and Jormungandr were not born of Loki’s body (perhaps of his blood and magic, but not in the traditional manner at all). Billy purses his lips at their fates, but doesn’t ask too much on the subject.

(Thor tries not to think about them either. What happened to Loki’s children and creations had been some of the few subjects on which he’d taken Loki’s side against Odin’s. He’d never even learned what happened to Váli and Narfi, just that they’d died at far too young an age.)

(Their deaths, Loki assured him, face drawn with grief, had nothing to do with Odin’s machinations, but rather with forces beyond anyone’s control.)

(He refused to elaborate, and Thor still knows nothing of what happened.)

Billy continues questioning him, about other siblings and relatives, about old stories and adventures. He asks of Sif’s hair and of Thor’s goats, even asks of the time Thor had worn the trappings of a young bride and Loki had played the role of bridesmaid to retrieve Mjolnir. He asks of both the common stories that Thor has heard Midgardians speak of before, and of older stories, lesser-known but no less important than those they knew more commonly spoken of.

“But Loki didn’t _try_ to cut Sif’s hair off, right?”

“Indeed. It was as honest a mistake as either of them made in those days.”

“So the thing with the dwarves didn’t happen, then, I’m guessing?” Billy taps the pen against his chin. “Or it happened for different reasons?”

“Aye, it happened for another reason. Loki never told me what caused it, but he was in Eir’s care for a week after he came back from that.”

“So is that a common theme you’ve noticed? Reality sort of being mix-and-matched into our myths? Like punishments for one crime being attributed to another?”

“I would… hesitate to call any of Loki’s actions prior to my coronation a true crime.” Thor sighs. “Loki has always been one to play with mischief, but none of his games were of malicious intent until that day.”

Billy’s smile is mostly empty, but there’s something familiar in his eyes that Thor doesn’t quite recognize. “Yeah, I think I know the type.”

Billy’s phone beeps halfway through one of Thor’s stories, and when the boy glances down to see what’s kind of notification it is, his face loses what little gaiety it has gained.

“Sorry. I… I’ve gotta take this.” Billy says, hitting the answer button and putting the phone up against his ear.

He shuffles out into the hall, talking quietly. Kate’s still in the room, but she is no longer fiddling with her phone, just staring at it without seeing, blankly waiting for Billy to get back with whatever information he has.

“Miss Kate,” Thor says, getting her attention immediately. “What is it that ails young Billy?”

Kate purses her lips. “I don’t really know if it’s my place to say. It’s… there’s been some legal trouble with his brother recently. Nothing completely awful, but Billy’s been stressing out about it for a while now. Bringing him here was my way of trying to give him something else to think about for a while. Especially since… um, well, there’s something big going on today, and Billy’s not allowed to be there for some reason.”

“I see.” Thor’s certainly had some family troubles of his own. “Has there been some trouble between the brothers themselves?”

“No more than usual, which I guess is the silver lining. They bicker, but all siblings do.” Kate’s hands cup her elbows, tucked up against her chest. “Billy and Tommy are getting along fine. It’s some government issue that’s the problem.”

Before Thor can ask about more (Kate’s being vague, but that’s her prerogative, given that they are doing little more than gossiping), Billy comes back in phone nowhere to be seen. Rather than returning to the conversation with Thor, the young man makes a beeline for Kate, dropping heavily into the seat next to her. Kate lifts an arm and, in what seems to be an almost practiced motion, Billy presses himself up against her side and clings tightly to her as she wraps her arm around his shoulders. It’s a position that Thor’s seen more than once, with Cassie taking Billy’s place.

Thor looks away, uncomfortably aware of how private this moment should be.

“How bad?” Kate asks quietly. One of her hands is combing through Billy’s hair, a small but calming motion.

“Secured juvenile hall. For a year. And then some other stuff after they let him out.” Billy answers, voice muffled by the fact that his face is pressed against Kate’s shoulder.

“Could be worse.” Kate’s tone doesn’t make it seem like she believes her own words, but it doesn’t seem to matter. “They could’ve sent him to a facility for adults.”

“We’re _fourteen_. It was an _accident_.” Billy’s voice is ripe with frustration and righteous anger. One of his hands is fisted in Kate’s jacket. “How the hell can they… I just…”

“Sh…” Kate pulls Billy closer. “No, it’s not fair. But you can still contact him, and Tommy can take care of himself. He took care of you, didn’t he?”

“That was at school, and only before the Shepherds moved, not… not a place filled with teens with criminal histories.”

“He can always outrun them.” Kate suggests, and there’s an edge of desperate amusement in her voice, as though a half-hearted joke can somehow fix the mood the room’s taken on. “And he doesn’t have to worry about you anymore, since you’ve got Teddy now.”

Thor looks to Clint, but the man has been asleep for half an hour, and offers no help.

“It was the teacher’s fault.” Billy grumbles, and Kate makes vague noises of agreement. They don’t clarify what the teacher did, or even what happened. “But the Shepherds want to get rid of him and the school wants a punishment and… fuck it, my parents would be willing to bring him up to New York, you know? Send him to therapy or whatever the judge ordered, community service or house arrest, just not…”

“I know, Billy, I know.” Kate’s holding him against her side, and it looks more than natural. Thor’s heard Kate deny that she’s anything special to her friends, anything beyond the eldest (and thus in charge), but it’s fairly clear at times like this that she’s more of a cornerstone than she can tell. “He’ll be okay. He’ll get out and if something’s wrong when he does, we can help fix him.”

Billy mutters something under his breath, too low for Thor to hear but enough for Kate to wince and pat the back of his head again. “It won’t come to that, I promise.”

Kate looks up at Thor and notices his expression. “Um… yeah, sorry about this.”

“There is no need to apologize, Miss Kate.” Thor assures her. “Might I ask what has transpired?”

“Er…” Kate glances down and, with a small frown, pulls Billy’s hair away from his face. “You okay with that, Kaplan? Talking about it might help. If you want me to tell him instead… or, hell, if you don’t want him to know at all, that works too. You’re perfectly within your rights to refuse.”

Billy’s quiet for a few moments, and then pulls away from Kate. His eyes are conspicuously dry, though rather red, but the frown that twists across his face is telling. “It’s fine. And, uh, I can talk about it myself.”

“’Kay. Tell me if you need to stop or want me to take over.” Kate waits until Billy’s turned around to face Thor, and then leans forward to wrap her arms around Billy torso and pulls him back against her chest. Her head rests on top of his, and though a brief flash of surprise and embarrassment crosses his face, Billy doesn’t try to struggle out of her hold.

It’s rather childish, Thor thinks, but they are hardly more than children themselves, and it is, in its own way, rather charming.

“Okay,” Billy breathes out heavily. “Where to start… right. I have a twin brother. His name is Tommy. We’re mostly identical, but his hair started going all silvery-white and his eyes turned green last year, so now it just looks like someone tried to draw me and couldn’t find the right colored pencil for the hair.”

The joke is half-hearted, but Thor smiles and nods in encouragement.

“Anyway, we don’t live together. We were left at an orphanage when we were just a few days old, and no one could figure out how or when we’d shown up, because they didn’t have any security cameras or anything. Someone had scribbled our names onto our onesies in marker, but that was it. No card, no explanation, not even a last name.” Billy purses his lips. “We both got adopted out pretty quickly, but to different families. My parents would’ve taken us both, but the Shepherds had already started the process to adopt him.”

Thor considers Billy’s apparent nonchalance about being adopted, and wonders if, maybe, Loki would have been better off knowing he was not of Odin’s blood from the beginning.

“Anyway, we grew up knowing each other anyway. He’d visit my family and I’d visit his, and we knew we were brothers and all, so it’s not like we just randomly ran into each other one day like on _The Parent Trap_ or something. But the Shepherds were… not exactly the best parents.” Billy’s face twists into something angry, almost hateful. Thor doesn’t like that expression. “Not abusive, but…”

“Neglectful,” Kate says, arms tightening around Billy. Her face isn’t any happier than his. “Not sure why they wanted to adopt a kid in the first place, but they shouldn’t have.”

“Kate.”

“Sorry.” Kate sighs. “Go back to the story.”

“Right.” Billy searches for his place for a moment, and then continues. “Anyway, we both grew up here in New York until we were ten, and then his family moved to New Jersey. Before that, we went to school together and hung out all the time and he even got in trouble a couple times to protect me from bullies who were getting on my case for liking comics, or boys, or being Jewish.”

“He seems like a good brother.” In some senses, what he hears about Tommy now makes the boy seem more like Thor as a child than Loki, though that may simply be a faulty memory at work. Thor remembers himself protecting Loki from other children and even the odd adult, but Loki, were he still alive, would no doubt claim otherwise.

“Yeah, usually.” Billy laughs to himself for a moment, not happy, but as though to some old joke that has lost its humor in the current state of affairs. “Anyway, we obviously go to different schools now, and a year ago, Tommy took Chemistry and started getting really interested in it? So he hangs out in the chem lab after school with a friend of his and messes around with stuff there, and the school’s okay with it so long as there’s a teacher there. But the teacher decided to leave the room _and_ told him that he could mess around with some of the more dangerous stuff while they were gone. I guess they thought he couldn’t do something dangerous in that time, but… well, he mixed up an explosive.”

Thor doesn’t know what a school could hold that could cause an explosion, nor how large it would be, but the fact that there was an explosion at all is enough reason to worry. “Ah. That… does not seem like something easily remedied.”

“You don’t say?” Billy snorts. “They got lucky. David noticed the reaction that was going on and figured out what Tommy had put in fast enough to get them out of the room and evacuate the science hallway before it went off. It managed to take out three and a half rooms, but no one was hurt. Still, the school obviously noticed that there were three and a half rooms missing, and they pressed charges. Said he couldn’t have managed to _accidentally_ blow the school up, and must’ve done it on purpose. Figured he’d known what he was doing since he spends so much time in there already.”

Thor doesn’t know enough about either boy to know whether this sounds reasonable or not, but he does have experience with brothers in trouble and authority figures intent on some form of punishment. “I did not expect that Midgardian schools would leave their students to such dangerous pursuits without supervision.”

“They’re not _supposed_ to.” Billy grits out. “But it’s easier to just blame it all on Tommy than to find a replacement for the chemistry teacher, and the Shepherds don’t care enough to hire a lawyer to defend him.”

“They… would refuse to help their own child?” Thor frowns, because he knows that less-than-pleasant parents are present everywhere, even on Asgard, but he’s never had experience with such. Even Odin’s banishments and such had all happened when Thor was well into adulthood and past the age where the king could make excuses for him. For a parent not to defend their child in a situation where the child was not at fault was… not something he’d encountered before.

“They’ve been having ‘marriage issues’ for years.” Billy uses finger quotes (Thor knows what those are; Darcy taught him) and rolls his eyes. “Sometimes they took it out on Tommy, or started blaming him for their issues. I think they were happy to just get rid of him.”

“And your parents…” Thor trails off, unsure of how to continue the sentence.

“ _My_ parents want to help. They would’ve taken Tommy in in a heartbeat, or helped pay for a decent defense lawyer like Murdock, but the Shepherds basically got us banned from all the court proceedings. They did everything short of taking out a restraining order, and since they’re legally Tommy’s parents, they’ve also made sure he can’t contact anyone they don’t approve of first.” Billy’s knuckles are white where he’s still holding on to Kate’s arm and jacket. “The only reason I know how any of it’s going is because Tommy gave me David’s number, and he’s been texting me and my parents updates on the situation.”

“I see.” Thor is perturbed, but he tries not to show it. “And you spoke with him just now?”

“No, actually. He’s in a hurry because the trial just ended, so he texted everything to my mom first, and then she called me.” Billy shakes his head. “And she told me how the trial ended, which is that Tommy’s gonna be stuck in basically prison for teenagers for year because he mixed up which chemicals he was using when a teacher was supposed to be watching him.”

“It could be worse.” Kate repeats her words from earlier. “But it’s definitely not as good as he deserves, and we’re not going to be hearing much from him for a while.”

“I think he might be able to get letters out, but that’s it.” Billy mentions, picking at Kate’s sleeve. “And it’ll all be monitored, too.”

“Knowing that one’s sibling is in such a situation is never enjoyable.” Thor tries to find the words to express some sentiment on the situation, but nothing that comes to mind seems like it would be truly helpful. He has the feeling that it would turn into something Darcy once mentioned called a ‘misery Olympics’ and spent half an hour explaining. “I… am sure you will be able to weather through it.”

Billy tilts his head a little. “How did you deal with it? With your brother being… you know.”

It looks as though Thor’s attempts not to touch on the subject of Loki were for naught. No matter. “I imagine my situation is rather different from your own, Billy. Loki committed a number of crimes intentionally, and was tried as an adult, and had I chosen to, I would have been able to visit him regularly.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t.” Billy says, judgment in his eyes.

“No, I didn’t, a choice that I regret now.” Thor closes his eyes and shakes his head. “You seem to still be on good terms with your brother, and he has not gone to his punishment for crimes he had any hand in. I expect your story’s ending will be much brighter than mine and Loki’s.”

“If we’re lucky, yeah.” Billy sighs, shifting closer to Kate and glaring at his phone. “Still pisses me off.”

“At least it happened now instead of as adults.” Kate points out. “The records will get sealed off when you two hit eighteen instead of being open to the public whenever he tries to sign up for a job or something.”

“That doesn’t really fix things.”

“It helps. You don’t want Tommy to end up like Clint did before SHIELD picked him up.” Kate grins and turns her head over her shoulder to yell, “Right, Clint?”

There’s no reply, not even a tiny shuffling in response to the loud noise, and Kate pulls herself up to look over the edge of the couch she and Billy are on. Clint’s laid out on the _other_ couch in the room, the one that’s pushed up against the wall and long enough for a fully-grown adult to lie down and sleep on. Kate takes a single look and makes a noise of understanding.

“Okay, never mind. Looks like he took his aids out.” She turns back around and pulls Billy against her. “I’m not surprised. He’s told me they’re, like, _super_ -uncomfortable to sleep in. I don’t know what they feel like, but I can imagine, I think.”

“You’re trying to distract me.” Billy accuses.

“Is it working?” Kate grimaces. “Sorry, but the whole reason I brought you here was to keep you from diving too deep into the Tommy thing.”

There’s a story there, a flash of emotion that Thor almost doesn’t catch. He’s not sure what it means, just knows that he shouldn’t pry.

“We could return to discussing the myths, if you wish to.” Thor suggests, and with a nod, Billy dives back into the discussions, though far more subdued than before.

Judging by the look on Kate’s face, it’s better than what she’d been expecting.

It’s enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there are a few things you may have noticed me hinting at that couldn't quite be noticed from Thor's point of view.
> 
> The most obvious one is that Billy has a history of mental health problems (primarily depression) in this universe, and that Kate knows about them. The goal of bringing Billy to the tower was to try to mitigate any bad news about Tommy with, well, fanboying. One big distraction. It didn't work completely, but it worked better than she expected.
> 
> Another was Billy's "Sometimes" line about Tommy being a good brother. This is a reference to an idea I've toyed around with on tumblr, but have yet to introduce in any of my stories. It will be mentioned in Tommy's chapter.
> 
> (I'm sorry for not mentioning more about Billy being Jewish, but the main focus of this chapter was meant to be fraternal relationships, and there wasn't much room for mentioning religion in the context of the discussion beyond the one line.)
> 
> There was also a huge thing with David that I had to mess around with for a bit to make it fit, and that'll be popping up in his chapter (which will be number ten, if all goes according to plan). Tommy himself will be introduced in chapter eight (again, if all goes to plan).
> 
> Lastly, Mjolnir being 'interested' in Billy has nothing to do with worthiness, but rather Billy's canon manipulation of electricity; as Mjolnir calls down lightning rather frequently, it's a bit curious as to why Billy feels familiar in that sense.


	5. Noh-Varr

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which an alien comes over for lunch and technology.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNINGS: This chapter contains discussions of illegal and non-consenting medical experimentation, death, PTSD, panic attacks, undeserved prison time, the ethics of conversations concerning topics of a sexual nature between minors and adults, and mentions of minors attempting (and failing) to initiate sexual relationships with adults.
> 
> o.o.o.o.o
> 
> Obviously, a few of the things I set up earlier in the fic were written prior to AoU coming out, so I can’t include things I would otherwise enjoy including (like Clint’s kids; I’m a sucker for seeing my faves with kids). That said, I’ll try to integrate as much of the movie as I can without contradicting my earlier chapters or including things that made me uncomfortable, starting with some of Clint’s stuff. Assume that this Clint is about ten years younger than MCU Clint and about five to ten years further in life than comic book Clint.
> 
> (I like to imagine that MCU Clint is just comic book Clint that managed to get his shit together. He was just as much of a floor pizza man as comics Clint back when he was in his twenties and early thirties, and if Laura and the kids are out of the house, he’s still a bit of a floor pizza man.)
> 
> Also, if you’re surprised by the ship I have for Kate… I’m really not sure what you were expecting, given what I’ve already set up in this fic in terms of age and given the other Young Avengers stories on my page.

It’s a slow day. A lazy day. Clint’s tempted to see if he can get away with grabbing the Quinjet and taking it out to the farm. He’s got a couple farmhands taking care of things while he’s away, but he wants to see his house again.

(He also wants to see Laura, but that’s neither here nor there. He never expected himself to visit used bookshops and the like, but if Laura was working there… well, nothing wrong with bringing your girlfriend lunch, right?)

(Right.)

As it stands, he’s just sitting on the couch, with Nat on the floor in front of him, and braiding her hair. It’s very short these days, and she’s left off straightening it again, so he just makes a lot of very thin braids all over. He ties them off with little nineties’ hair-ties that have plastic butterflies on them.

The braids are cute. So is Nat. He kind of wants to pinch her cheeks.

It’s nearly noon when his phone buzzes with a text message from Kate. He lazily checks it, then chokes on his own spit because _what_.

“What’s wrong?” Nat turns around and leans against his knees. “Did she get arrested or something?”

Clint gibbers for a few seconds and then turns the phone to her.

Nat reads it, takes a second to process what it says and why it’s making Clint freak out, and then starts laughing at the top of her lungs. The sound, of course, draws the attention of everyone in earshot.

“I hear Widow laughter.” Tony says as he walks into the room, covered in soot and engine oil, his hair standing on end. “Either someone we hate just died or one of us is about to suffer.”

“Clint is suffering right now.” Natasha confirms, and tosses Clint’s phone to Tony before he can grab it back. Traitor.

Tony glances at the screen, his eyes widening. “That little brat! How the hell did she get so lucky?”

“Hey,” Clint whines, momentarily distracted. “Don’t act like you approve, come on!”

“She’s experiencing the dream, Clint!” Tony tries to explain, “Millions of people worldwide would _kill_ for what she just got.”

“Who got what now?” Steve asks as he walked into the room. “Nice hair, Romanoff.”

“Thanks, Clint did it.” Natasha smirks at him, sending him a jaunty, slightly mocking salute.

“Great, let’s invite the whole team, why don’t we.” Clint grumbles. “Can I have my phone back?”

“No, we’re too busy mocking you.” Tony tells him. “And why do you care about approving?”

“She’s a minor?” Clint looks at Tony like the man maybe hit his head on something in the workshop. “She’s seventeen and my pseudo little sister and I really don’t want to hear about her sexual escapades?”

Tony opens his mouth for a second, and then makes a disgusted face. “Oh, ew. I forgot about that.”

“Which part?” Clint mutters, glaring at his phone.

“Someone mind telling me what’s happened?” Steve asks, arms crossed over his chest. He cuts an imposing figure, but his expression makes it clear that the intimidation is mostly joking.

“Kate sent Clint a text message about something that he doesn’t want to know about.” Nat says (traitor). “It reads, and I quote, ‘I just had alien space sex.’ It is accompanied by a picture of Earth that was clearly taken from orbit and a message that said she’s bringing the guy in question by later, and that Clint should feel free to brag for her.”

Steve blinks and makes a face, much like Tony did earlier. “I see. Does she realize that it’s inappropriate to send those kinds of messages to people so much older than her?”

“She didn’t send nudes or go into detail, Cap.” Tony says. “So it’s not as bad as it could be.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that—”

“We probably shouldn’t be hearing about this sort of thing from a teenager. I know.” Tony nods at the phone. “I’ve been dealing with this sort of thing for longer than you have. I _have_ gotten nudes from minors that wanted to get with someone famous, and the first thing I always did was delete the pics and contact their parents, in person. It’s not the sort of thing I play around with.”

Steve presses his lips together. “That isn’t really the same thing.”

“I know.” Tony snorts. “It’s a lot less likely to turn into a legal battle of some sort, for one thing. It’s a lot less morally reprehensible to joke about, for another. All she told us was that she’d slept with someone last night and was excited because it apparently happened in space and with an alien. Which, okay, adult friends, so really not the people to brag to about that, but it’s not the end of the world.”

Clint keeps staring at his phone in a strange mixture of disgust and despair.

“Chin up, Clint.” Natasha grins, “You apparently get to _meet_ him later today.”

Clint’s head drops into his hands.

“It’ll be a learning experience for all of us!” She continues, smiling, “I mean, you usually know all of Kate’s friends long before we do, but _now_ …”

“Please shut up, Nat.” Clint mutters into his palms.

He’s pretty sure she’s grinning at him.

o.o.o.o.o

Kate and her boyfriend show up on the Quinjet’s landing pad a floor below the room the Avengers are currently occupying, in the aforementioned spaceship. It’s big and silver with bright green stripes, and Clint would be a lot more interested in it if it weren’t for the fact that he _recognizes_ this ship.

“Oh hell.” He mutters, glancing at Nat. “She hooked up with the Kree kid.”

Nat nods, expression blank. She knows everything he does on the subject. She wasn’t there like he was, but… well, that doesn’t really change much, considering how much they share on that front.

Thor sends him a sharp look. “A Kree?”

“Yeah,” Clint scratches the back of his head. “I only met him once, for a few seconds, but what’s left of SHIELD is keeping tabs on him. He’s been playing it straight since the whole thing with HYDRA.”

“Wait, HYDRA?” Steve asks, and is summarily ignored.

“So he’s a good kid?” Tony asks, looking sly.

“Not sure if he’s good enough for Kate, if that’s what you’re asking.” Clint immediately replies, knowing exactly what Tony’s getting at and nipping it in the bud. “But I’ll trust her to make her own decisions unless something big crops up, in which case I’ll take it to her instead of attacking him.”

“Boring.” Tony says, rolling his eyes and dodging the wadded-up ball of paper that Nat throws at his head. Well, he’s pulled out of the way by Steve, which is close enough.

“Respectful.” Clint corrects, and turns his head slightly as his hearing aids pick up on the dinging of the elevator. “They’re here.”

“I could tell.”

“Shut _up_ , Tony.”

Kate strides in with a bag over her shoulder, looking exceedingly normal save for the large grin on her face. She comes to a stop in the middle of the room, and the boy following her does the same, just a few steps behind her. He’s taller than Kate by nearly a foot, and has slicked-back white hair (not platinum blonde or greying, everyone notes, but legitimately white from his hair to his brows to his lashes) and a broad physique. He’s even wearing a white button-down over black pants, which the back of Clint’s head finds hilarious for some reason.

“Hey guys, this is Noh-Varr.” Kate introduces the boy, seemingly paying no attention to their actual reactions. Of course, if she’s paid attention to anything Clint’s taught her, then she’s probably cataloguing every individual reaction despite this. “He and I have been seeing each other for the past few months.”

“Hello.” Noh-Varr gives a small wave, seeming rather unsure of what else to do. It’s understandable, given that he’s not actually from the planet, but it still looks pretty damn awkward.

“Hey kid.” Clint tries to take point, walking forward and holding out his hand to the alien teen that’s standing in Tony’s living room because _what is his life now_. “I’m Clint. I’m Kate’s…” He thinks it over for a few seconds, “mentor, I guess?”

“Close enough,” Kate mutters. It’s not like they’ve _really_ come up with a description for what they are.

“Yes, hello.” Noh seems a bit relieved to have a normal social interaction that he doesn’t have to initiate himself. Kate’s just standing back and watching it all happen with a watchful eye. Noh shakes Clint’s hand firmly. “I think we met? Your face is familiar, but I don’t know why.”

“I was a SHIELD agent before I decided to be an Avenger full-time. Plus, I’ve probably shown up in plenty of Kate’s Instagram pictures or whatever.” Clint sees the wince when he mentions SHIELD. That’s a topic to avoid, then. “You should know that if you hurt Kate, then I’ll kick your ass as soon as she’s taken her turn.”

Noh blinks (and oh _god_ he has a set of translucent eyelids under his normal eyes, like a goddamn _owl_ , and they blink _sideways_ ) and tilts his head, but then shrugs. “I have no intention of hurting her, but if I do, I will readily submit to whatever punishment either of you decides is necessary.”

Clint stares at the kid for a second, then closes his eyes and shakes his head, letting out a breathless laugh. “You are one weird kid, you know that?”

A ghost of a smile crosses Noh’s face. “So I’ve been told.”

“Right.” Clint nods. “Now, if you don’t mind, I kind of need to talk to Kate for a bit.”

Clint ushers Kate away from the others and into the hallway, leaving Noh with the other Avengers. He’s pretty sure they can all handle themselves for a bit.

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to lecture me on dating him or tell me that I’m too young for sex.” Kate says before he even opens his mouth.

“No, but it does have to do with that.” Clint ignores the way Kate crosses her arms and pouts. “Kate, you’re a minor, okay?”

“Yeah, and?”

“Don’t send me messages like that. I mean, for one thing, I just plain don’t want to know about your sex life, and for another, I’m _twice your age_. It’s just… it’s inappropriate.” Clint reuses the terminology Steve used earlier.

“It’s not like they were nudes or anything.” Kate snorts, and Clint can hear the earlier discussion crawling back into his head.

“I know. And I know you’d never send those. But Kate, you’re like a little sister to me, and I know you want to joke around and whatnot, but there are… there are lines you don’t cross with people of different ages, okay?” Clint doesn’t want to have this discussion, because _ew_ , but whatever.

Kate is quiet for a moment. “So no sex-related texts or calls or anything.”

“I mean, if there’s some kind of emergency, like you get pregnant or break something, then yeah, you can call me. Or Nat. Nat’s probably better in that kind of situation. But for this sort of thing, you just… don’t, Katie-Kate. Please don’t. It’s weird and gross for me, and it’s a squicky gray area morally. If you really need me to know for some reason, so that I don’t call you for a mission or barge in on you while hiding from the tracksuit mafia, just… send me a message saying that you’re staying the night with him or he’s staying with you and not to interrupt or something.”

Kate sighs heavily. “Fine, I won’t. I still think you’re being too sensitive about this, but fine.”

“You’re seventeen, Kate. Of course you think that.” Clint ruffles her hair, grinning at the scowl on her face when she swats his hand away. “Also, no making out on Tony’s couch.”

“Why, because you don’t want to see that either?”

“Well, yes, but mostly because Tony will use that as an excuse to make out on the couch with Pepper and that might snowball and I don’t want to have to wonder if I’m sitting somewhere Stark’s bare ass has been whenever I want to watch a game.”

“Oh, _gross!_ ” Kate squeals, making a face. “Why’d you have to put that image in my head?”

“Why’d you have to text me about your sex life?” Clint shoots back.

Kate opens her mouth to retort, then closes it and glares at him. Grudgingly, she admits, “Touché.”

“You know it, little protégé.”

“ _Not_ your protégé.”

“You can say that when you’re older.” Clint assures her as they entered the room. “For now, not so much.”

“Oi, tiny Hawkeye!” Tony waves them over. “Help me convince your boyfriend to share alien tech and science-y goodness with me and Bruce.”

“Tell them nothing.” Kate immediately says, and Clint feels proud of her for that. Pissing off Tony is a skill that every Hawkeye needs to have, and Kate has that particular skill in spades. Though in this case, Clint feels like it might be more that Kate is worried about the possible ramifications of introducing advanced alien technology to humans.

“That was the plan, yes.” Noh is smiling, at least, so that means no one caused an arguments, which is good “Although some of the inefficiencies in the Quinjet I saw on the way in are bothering me.”

The air in the room stills, and Clint instantly realizes that any further discussions anyone had planned with Noh are going to stall out for now, because Tony isn’t going to let this go.

Kate seems to realize. She smiles grimly and pats Noh on the shoulder. “It was nice knowing you, space boy.”

“What?” Noh’s confusion seems to last all of half a second before he realizes what’s going on, mostly because Tony’s getting up in his face and poking him in the chest.

“You think you can improve one of _my_ designs without relying on technology the planet doesn’t even have yet?” Tony challenges, eyes narrowed. With the soot and grease that he still hasn’t wiped off, he looks mildly ridiculous, and it looks like Clint isn’t the only one that thinks so.

“…Maybe.” Noh stares down at Tony, which is amusing, really, because Noh is seventeen but Tony is a _tiny, tiny man_ and it’s kind of hilarious to see the frustration growing behind his eyes at being so much shorter than this kid.

“Bruce.” Tony says, and it seems to be enough to relay his meaning, because Bruce stands up from his position on the couch, realizing that his desire to be uninvolved in drama has gone unfulfilled once more.

“Sorry kid. It’ll be easier to just go along with it until Pepper gets back and makes him get ready for dinner.” Bruce smiles apologetically and stands behind Tony, who’s still glaring, if mostly jokingly.

“I… don’t see why not?” Noh glances at Kate, who shrugs.

“Your choice, Noh.”

Clint watches as the two scientists and one alien head for the labs and then turns to Kate. “Were you expecting this?”

“Maybe a little, yeah.” Kate admits. “He’s smarter than he lets on most of the time, and is honestly a really good mechanic for even just his own ship, which is ridiculously complicated by human standards from what I know. I mean, I don’t get it, but he knows what he’s doing. And he’s a really good hand-to-hand combatant, and nearly as good a shot as we are, so if I ever get in a bad situation again, I want him on my side.”

Clint raises an eyebrow at the high praise. “He sounds a little too perfect.”

“He also plays sixties music on a near-constant base and can’t quite pass for human yet, amongst other things.” Kate shrugs. “I mean, he’s not _perfect_ at all, but he’s pretty good, I think. We’ll see if it lasts.”

“Fair enough.” Clint nods at her. “How you feel about going to the range with me and Nat?”

“I feel very good about that idea.” Kate high-fives him with a smirk. “I’ll kick your ass.”

“You wish, tinier Hawkeye.”

“Oh, it’s _on._ ”

o.o.o.o.o

Clint likes having Kate’s friends stay over for dinner at the tower. It makes the whole thing feel cozy and less awkward, usually, because everyone is _there_ , but they all talk in their own little groups about their own little problems, so the kids don’t feel like they’re being pressured to talk, but are still put in positions where they can join in on the conversations that interest them if they want to. This time, they don’t even sit at the dining room table, but rather pile onto the huge new couch that Stark just got for the main living room and eat Chinese takeout.

Clint likes having Kate’s friends stay over for dinner at the tower.

He doesn’t like seeing Tony urge Kate’s friends to eat _Styrofoam_.

“Okay, that’s enough.” He calls, chucking a rolled-up wrapper at Tony; it rebounds off his temple and Clint’s rewarded with the half-hearted whining a grown man. “Just ‘cause he can eat it doesn’t mean he _should_.”

“When did _you_ get so mature?” Nat asks, clearly amused.

“The same time you gained a sense of humor, probably.” Clint sticks out his tongue at her just to prove how lacking in maturity he still is.

“You two are _awful_.” Kate groans. Clint doesn’t really blame her; she’s been putting up with their good-natured sniping for hours now. “And Stark, stop feeding my boyfriend weird shit.”

“I don’t mind.” Noh says, though he settles back down into the seat next to her anyway. “I mean, I’ve certainly lived off of worse.”

Kate gives him a look that clearly says ‘not helping,’ but Noh smiles back innocently. Kate huffs and falls into Noh’s side, folding perfectly into his side and pulling his arm up over her shoulders.

They’re weirdly cute, Clint thinks. He doesn’t mind the situation nearly as much as he did earlier, since he’s gotten to know Noh a bit better now.

“So you can digest anything organic, right?” Sam asks, garnering a nod in return. “So what happens with food that’s gone bad? Or inorganic materials?”

“Some of it simply passes through my system. The particularly bad things… I may vomit, in which case I call the number that SHIELD gave me for one of its scientists.”

“Which one?” Stark demands immediately. “And why?”

“Reed Richards.” Noh says, ignoring the annoyed groaning from Tony and Clint himself. He shrugs. “I don’t particularly like his attitude much, but he’s efficient. As for why… if I need to vomit, the results are always radioactive. So it needs to be collected, and I think Richards may experiment with it.”

There’s silence for a few seconds, interrupted only by Natasha’s stifled laughter, which doesn’t turn into full-blown guffaws or anything of the sort, but doesn’t really _end_ either. Clint can feel himself quickly joining her, and several of the others aren’t far behind him.

Noh looks inordinately pleased with himself and Kate is snickering, so they clearly both knew what the reaction to this would be. Noh’s even sipping from a glass of sparkling water and smirking at them all over the rim.

Clint’s proud. The entire room is laughing to some degree, save for Stark, Rhodes, and Bruce. Unsurprising, really. They _are_ the scientists that actually understand the weirdness that would have to go into that biology for him to be able to do that, but they’re also the only ones that probably even care, so whatever.

“Sir?” JARVIS’s voice interrupts the discussion. “I have a message for Agent Romanoff.”

“From?”

“Agent Melinda May, Sir.”

The room sobers immediately. Even if they didn’t know that Agent May was the intimidating second-in-command of the new SHIELD, they’d have known just from the “Agent” part that she was sending them a message that was almost certainly originating from the supposedly late Phil Coulson.

None of them have forgiven that lie yet.

“Send it to my phone, JARVIS.” Nat finally says, sounding halfway between her Widow neutrality and just plain tired.

(He knows the feeling.)

“Well?” Sam asks after a few minutes of near silence, the only conversation being whispered discussions between small pairs of people. Kate looks like she’s explaining the new SHIELD system to Noh. The look on the boy’s face doesn’t speak well of his opinion of the new SHIELD, but… well, given his experiences with the old one, Clint isn’t surprised.

“They found more HYDRA in the Cube.” Natasha says, her voice clipped. Clint’s too focused on her to notice what’s going on with the teens. “There were entire _hidden levels_ there, and they… well, what’s left of SHIELD needs me to coordinate a team to get in and figure out what is happening and who’s in charge. Find anything else that’s hidden around. I don’t work for SHIELD anymore, technically, so I don’t have to do it, but…”

The sound of breaking glass cuts her off, and Clint’s on his feet with a gun in his hands before the source registers with him; if he had his bow and quiver, he’d have been up even quicker. Half the room is in the same position, and then the sight in the corner of the couch gains their attention.

They all lower their guns, then.

Kate doesn’t look quite panicked, but she’s clearly worried.

Noh isn’t paying attention to the rest of the room at all. He’s hunched over on himself, elbows resting on his knees, and staring sightlessly at the floor. His hand is wet and clenched tight enough for the tendons to show, and the floor below is covered in water and glass shards. The rest of his body is just as tightly wound, with veins and tendons standing out all over, and jaw clenched so tight that Clint’s surprised that he hasn’t broken a tooth yet. He doesn’t seem to be breathing.

“Everyone out.” Clint orders quietly. He knows exactly what this is. Most of the room does, but he and Natasha (and presumably Kate) are the only ones that know the cause. “Now.”

“Do you know what ails the young—”

“ _Now_ , Thor.” Clint’s voice doesn’t leave any room for argument, despite the fact that he keeps it low and even. “The less people in here, the better. Kate can stay. Natasha too. Everyone else, gone.”

Everyone files out of the room, and Clint hears Stark quietly order JARVIS to do whatever Clint says for the time being. That’s nice of him.

Kate’s sitting on the floor next to Noh’s feet, her hand on his knee. She’s talking quietly, and Clint can’t hear what she’s saying, but he knows she’s probably doing something right.

“Kate?” He asks. “Have you ever seen this before?”

“Not with him.” Her reply is little more than a whisper. “I’m not entirely sure what happened.”

Clint closes his eyes and breathes. Okay, so the kid hadn’t told Kate about the Cube, or at least hadn’t gone into enough detail for her to know the name of the prison. Kate’s got enough experience with people getting triggered to know the signs, though, which is good.

“JARVIS, dim the lights a bit.” He orders. “Make ‘em a bit more natural. Softer and yellow.”

The lighting isn’t bad, but the less it looks like the Cube (and he’s _seen_ the interior of that place), the better.

Natasha is standing by the bar, and Clint can see where her hand is on the gun strapped to her ankle, but that’s just a precaution. Noh doesn’t seem like he’s going to turn violent, but Clint’s been around too many shell-shocked vets and agents on missions gone wrong to be complacent. That’s why he didn’t just leave Kate alone here.

The sound of shifting cloth gets his attention again, and he notices that Noh’s moved to hold Kate’s hand, squeezing tight enough that she looks like she’s in a bit of pain, but she doesn’t react other than to grimace. Noh’s still staring sightlessly at the ground, and those translucent eyelids are up and unmoving, making his eyes look almost entirely white. A layperson would likely mistake him for blind.

“I can’t go back there.” He finally says. The words clearly take a lot of effort to get out. Clint doesn’t blame him. Panic attacks are… rough. He’s seen people who can’t stop talking, and people who just can’t talk. On top of that, the kid has to translate everything he says first.

“No one’s going to make you go back.” Kate assures him, rubbing soothing circles into the back of his hand with her thumb. She glances helplessly at Clint and Natasha, but they don’t interfere; Kate knows what she’s doing, and she’s also the only one in the room that Noh trusts to any degree.

“But _Plex_.” The words are almost a whimper, and there are shudders building up in the young man’s shoulders now. “And they have… they have all of the remains. They weren’t at Midas, so if there are hidden levels, they have _everything_.”

Natasha interrupts here, her voice quiet enough not to disturb but loud enough to carry. “If you tell me what it is that you need, I can make sure it gets to you. I can’t promise weaponry or tech, but judging by what you’re saying, I think I know what it is you want, and _that_ , I can get.”

 _So you’re definitely taking the mission, then_ , Clint thinks, like there was ever any question otherwise.

“You’ll get them back.” Kate promises, though Clint’s pretty sure that she has vague guesses at best for what’s going on.

“You don’t know what they… they took.”

“No, not really. I barely understand what’s going on right now, but I trust Natasha.” Kate says, moving back up to sit on the couch again, and slowly (slowly enough to withdraw if it’s clear that her actions are unwanted) wraps her free arm around Noh, leaning her cheek against his shoulder. “And if she says she can do something, she can do it. You’ll get them back.”

The boy seemingly melts into her touch, nearly collapsing into her lap. His breath starts coming heavier, harsher, and pretty soon he’s hyperventilating, and crying, and Kate is just running her free hand through his hair and murmuring consolations, and Clint turns around, because if what happened earlier was too private to watch, this certainly is. His aids just barely pick up the sound of Natasha doing the same thing on the other side of the room.

“You’re going to be fine, sweetheart.” Kate’s voice is clear behind him, if only for a moment, and Clint would find the pet name cringe-worthy normally, but in this case… nothing’s funny about this. “If you can’t be okay on your own, I’ll help.”

Kate can’t help all on her own, but Clint doesn’t say that. That can come later.

“They took them, when we crashed.” Noh starts talking, and Clint realizes he’s going to tell Kate _everything_. Well, talking does help. Sometimes. “We were on our way home, but the dimensional drivers were failing, and then we were shot down over Earth by the Midas group.”

“I’ve heard of them.” Kate says when he doesn’t continue. “I met the daughter a few times at some high society functions. Didn’t like her much, but the same could be said for most of the people at those things.”

“Oubliette. We met.” Noh chokes out a laugh, and _God_ Clint doesn’t want to be here right now, but he turns around to face them again anyway. “The Midas group salvaged the ship and everything on it. I was the only one that survived their experimentation. The rest... they did it _right in front of me_ , Kate.”

Kate winces, but she doesn’t stop… well, _petting_ him.

“They… I managed to escape at one point, and I stole my ship back and Plex was still on it and I didn’t… I made some very bad choices then. I didn’t kill anyone, but I caused many damages and made it clear I was a threat.” He doesn’t elaborate beyond that. Clint’s pretty sure Kate will find out herself, or just get the stories later. “I was nearly recaptured by the Midas group when Oubliette was sent after me, but I ran into SHIELD instead.”

“Ah.”

“They arrested me, of course. Midas managed to steal my ship back for themselves and I was… I had to…”

“He was sent to the Cube.” Clint takes over, because Noh clearly wants to tell the story to Kate (to tell the story to someone he trusted), but was no longer capable of doing so. “It’s a high-security SHIELD prison, used in large part for powered people. Like everything else, it was infiltrated by HYDRA. It was a morally grey place anyway, but with HYDRA there, the treatment got worse and a lot of experimentation went on.”

Noh’s freezing up again, so Clint hurries up and tries to finish as quickly as possible. “When SHIELD fell, we ferreted out the majority of the HYDRA personnel, and managed to get out a lot of people that shouldn’t have been in the positions they were in, including Noh-Varr. We got them set up with rehabilitation programs and reparations packages, but it wasn’t really… nothing’s really enough fix something like that. The new hidden levels are just another awful reality. And… well, I know someone checked in with Midas and ended up taking it down after realizing some of the unethical stuff going on there, right after Noh got arrested, but as far as I know, there weren’t any alien remains taken in, which means they were probably taken by HYDRA.”

“So we’ll probably find them in those hidden levels, if they still exist.” Natasha finished for him.

Noh is silent for a moment, and then just nods and curls in closer to Kate.

“Do you wanna go back to the ship?” Kate asks softly. Noh nods again, and then lurches to his feet, stumbling heavily. Kate holds out an arm to steady him, and then looks to Clint and Natasha. “We’ll probably visit again sometime soon. Tell everyone else we said bye.”

“Bye, Katie-Kate.” Clint waves, watching as the two kids, rather than taking the stairs, simply climb out the window and jump down to the landing pad, with Kate riding on Noh’s back.

The ship takes off without any noise, and Clint remembers that the scientists never really figured out what fueled the ship. He should probably be worried about Noh flying so soon after a panic attack, but if he’s honest with himself, he knows Kate’s driving abilities well enough to be completely sure of the fact that she can probably fly the alien ship better than a SHIELD agent could fly a quinjet at this point.

“He needs to see a shrink.” Nat says from beside him.

“Probably.” Clint agrees.

“…Can I count on you to help with the Cube mission?”

“Definitely.”


End file.
